Developing the
Lake
(click on pictures to obtain
bigger images)
In July 2005, we hired a mini-digger
for three days. He started removing the silted
bottom and rushes of the bog lake and piling the mixture into two
heaps, which eventually built up to two four
feet high islands. This meant
that valuable time (and money) was saved by
placing the soil close to where it was being
removed and also gave two islands to the lake.
The digger continued to
remove the soil and heap it into banks surrounding the lake. Infact only about a foot of
soil was removed until a layer of solid clay was exposed. This
explained why the bog lake was usually wet
as the rain water couldn't penetrate this clay layer. It also means
that the present lake will always hold its
water, as very little will be lost by drainage through
the soil and evaporation through the sun will be the most likely cause of water loss.
After three days the basic shape of the lake
had materalised. A start was made on some sluice
gates at the end of an existing channel from the lake. A layer
of large and then small stone was laid.
Two lines of blocks were placed across the channel and filled with concrete.
Two round metal bars were also placed
into position and a number of wooden sleepers had
holds drilled through them to that they could be placed on to the
metal bars. A number of internal blocks supported the wooden sleepers
into position. The sluice was made higher by adding more blocks and
filling with concrete.
A quay was made on the smaller island by cementing concrete blacks together
and filling behind it with stone. The
final couple of feet used stone and capped together with alternating layers
of stone and concrete. A wooden pontoon
was created on the larger island and fitted with
cleats. Stone was placed under the pontoon
to give it a solid foundation.
